Category: Hairlines

Hello Doctor,

My boyfriend is rather paranoid about his hairloss, personally, I don’t see a problem… but I pointed him out to your website as I feel it’s a great source of information! My boyfriend has agreed to post some pictures so you can help determine his Norwood class, and he would also like to know if propecia and/or rogaine would be suitable to help him with his receding hairline! Thanks for your help! We look forward to hearing from you!

This is a Norwood class 3 pattern. I can not recommend how to treat him without seeing him. Generally neither Rogaine nor Propecia will reverse this pattern, but Propecia may prevent its progression to another more advanced pattern. Your boyfriend needs a good doctor.

I’ve posted the photos below. Click to enlarge.

I’ve been told I have a mature hairline, and that I have nothing to worry about regarding hair loss, which is a great relief. However, I have a couple of questions;

First off, is a mature hairline classed as a Norwood 2? Because from comments on various forums, they say I have a Norwood 1 hairline, but it’s matured, and when I cross reference my hairline with the scale, it fits in more with a Norwood 1.

Secondly, is it possible for someone to develop a mature hairline and then that’s their hairline for the rest of their life? What age does maturing kick in? I’m 21.

I generally don’t like to classify patients in Norwood class 1 or 2, because it isn’t really considered hair loss. This is not a surgical issue, at least in our hands. I suppose a mature hairline can look like a Norwood 1 or 2. If you feel the absolute need to classify yourself in a certain Norwood pattern, go for it! Doctors usually use the Norwood classification not to label you, but to predict and follow your hair loss pattern over time, particularly in planning surgery.

Some men will have a mature hairline for life and no loss beyond that. There’s no specific age you can look to as a deadline for this to occur.

I noticed that the hairline matures between the ages of 17 and 29, according to this site. I’m just curious as to how you came to that conclusion. I’m 23 and while my hairline has matured, I’m not thinning at all at top. Does that mean if I’m not showing signs of hair loss at 30, then I probably won’t?

If you are worried about losing hair, then you should see a doctor for an objective examination. Some people may just have some front hairline recession and that is it. It’s possible your hairline can mature and then you won’t see any further loss, but I couldn’t say what your loss pattern might be just based on your age. Everyone is different.

Hello. I needed to know if you have any high resolution before and after photos for male patients who have had transplants at NHI to restore their juvenile hairline with a high density. I was trying to find some on the newhair.com site, but couldn’t. I know that this is not a common procedure in men as many guys do not commit to taking propecia early on in the balding process and come in when the hair is only restorable to the mature position, but I’m sure juvenile hairline restoration has been done as for certain modeling/acting careers the thick Juvenile hairline is the aesthetic-standard.

The mature position is unacceptable for some of us, especially with how the aesthetic standard is becoming more stringent in 2011 due to many popular icons who lack the balding genes. I am considering doing hair transplantation for my career at your practice and was recommended to have FUE by my doctor (if I really wanted it). I do not have advanced balding or miniaturization beyond the hairline.

In general, we do not restore juvenile hairlines or any hairline with high density, especially with one surgery for most patients… perhaps with the exception of young male actors or models that have careers dependent on a specific look. You probably will not see these patients at our website, because many are convinced that their hairline will put them at risk for recognition if shown online. We don’t force patients to sign a photo release, so we can only post what we have permission for.

We don’t recommend transplanting a low hairline in men, because you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you develop a more advanced balding pattern over time. More specifically, I do not know what your expectation of “high density” and your desire for a “juvenile” hairline is.

If you want to see examples of hairline density, just attend one of our open house events in Los Angeles and see some of our patients in person. A few of them who regularly attend do have high density, and meeting them to see for yourself in person is a great way to get an idea of what can be done. Our next open house event in Los Angeles is this Saturday the October 1st, and you can find our upcoming free open house events listed here.

Hi Dr. Rassman.
I wanted to ask your opinion of Kelsey Grammer’s hair – maybe it’s my imagination but he seems to have more hair lately than he used to. Do you think he may have had a transplant? If so, how many grafts would you estimate?

Recent photo and Older photo

The comparison photos do look like Kelsey Grammer (known for his work in sitcoms Frasier and Cheers) has more hair in recent years, but I cannot determine if he had a hair transplant.

But assuming that he did, if I had to make a guess of how many grafts he may have received to attain the look in the photo… I’d say more than a 1000 but less than 3000. Yeah, sort of a wild guess. The photos I’ve found make it difficult to really see his hair perfectly without image compression or different lighting conditions.